DOZENS of Glasgow landlords have failed to meet national housing standards, it has been revealed.

Data published by the Scottish Housing Regulator has shown several social housing landlords across the city have struggled to meet certain criteria, such as emergency and non-emergency repair times and overall tenant satisfaction.

The Scottish Housing Quality Standard and the number of reactive repairs which were completed “right first time” were also measured.

The findings, which were collated from figures gathered over two years from 2020 and March 2022, show more than half of 51 landlords fell below in at least one category.

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Sanctuary Scotland received the lowest rating for overall satisfaction, coming in at 70.6% compared with the national average of 87.7%, while Castlemilk’s Craigdale Housing Association was close to the top spot with 98%.

Repairs took an average of 8.9 days for non-emergencies and 4.2 hours for emergencies across the country, however, Yoker and Queen’s Cross housing associations hit much higher standards in each category – with data showing 0.8 days and 1.3 hours respectively.

Bield was noted as taking the longest to complete an emergency repair, with a period of six hours, while Sanctuary took 17.7 on average to resolve non-emergency issues.

Wellhouse Housing exceeded the 88.3% national average for reactive repairs, coming in at 99.8% but West of Scotland was lowest in the category with 62.6%.

Meanwhile, several housing associations exceeded the 73% housing quality standard whereas just 12.7% of the 1485 properties owned by Glasgow West were said to have met the criteria.

A spokesperson for Glasgow West said: “Our tenants are aware of the complex contextual issues that have impacted our repairs service and investment programme.

“We understand the corresponding influence on satisfaction levels, and we acknowledge the benchmark performance against our peers.

“We have made significant progress in our SHQS performance this last year, and we have robust plans in place for recovery of our traditionally strong performance across the referenced indicators: including anticipated £7.6 million of investment during 2023/24, in the first phase of a five-year, £26.9m programme of works.”

The vast difference in the size, scale and style of each landlord means it’s impossible to perform a like-for-like comparison. External factors – such as tough coronavirus restrictions and the complex needs of certain tenants – can be credited for delays in certain areas causing landlords to slip below to average standards.

The regulator’s most recent data covers a period where supply issues, a side effect of the coronavirus pandemic, meant housing associations struggled to carry out repairs. At the same time, non-essential work was stopped altogether due to legal restrictions around visiting the homes of other people.

North Glasgow Homes, which has exceeded the national average in all but one criterion – housing standard – explained the inability to enter tenants’ homes during numerous lockdowns created a backlog it's now working hard to fix.

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While specialist housing organisation Bield, which didn’t meet the average wait times for non-emergency repairs or overall tenant satisfaction, faced a similar issue attempting to aid its primarily elderly residents due to coronavirus restrictions.

A spokesperson added: "We are constantly striving to improve what we do – and in the same period invested £4.5m in our homes over the year, with 89.4% now meeting Scottish Housing Quality Standard and 98.3% meeting energy efficiency standards – both figures are up significantly on our peer group and the Scottish average."

Sanctuary Scotland, which failed to meet the average in four out of five criteria, had seen its property ownership skyrocket during the time the data was gathered, as it acquired homes from Thistle Housing.

The former housing operator had several homes with outstanding issues that became the responsibility of Sanctuary in early 2021.

A spokesperson said: “We are committed to continued improvement of our services in all areas and putting our customers first is at the heart of the work we do.

“We are again increasing our investment in our homes and are ensuring our time is focused on the things that matter most to our customers, to give them confidence the homes they live in are safe, secure and fit for the future.”

A housing regulator spokesperson said: “The Scottish Housing Quality Standard was updated by the Scottish Government in 2020 ... The Scottish Government extended the timescales for landlords to complete these inspections to the end of March 2022.

“Many of the landlords who reported an increased level of SHQS failures confirmed that they have plans in place to address these issues during this reporting year. This is reflected in landlords’ projections of 90% compliance with SHQS next year.”